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Monday, March 7, 2011

The Arcane Society Series by Jayne Ann Krentz

As requested, here is the Arcane Society series in reading order. Jayne Ann Krentz is an amazing author. Her writing is always well executed, and her stories are compelling, this series especially, because I love the paranormal twist, and how each individual book can either be a historical, contemporary, or set in the future. Her historical books are written under the pseudonym Amanda Quick, contemporaries under Jayne Ann Krentz, and futuristic under Jayne Castle.

17 comments:

Thanks for this helpful list. I'm about three-quarters of the way through Second Sight for the March book group meeting and am enjoying it quite a bit. I'd have no trouble reading more from this series, but I think I'd like to stick with the books that have the historical setting. I looked at a copy of Midnight Crystal, for example, and went, "Eh," so I suspect that I should just move on to The Third Circle. But what I'm wondering is, would I be missing any important part of some overall picture if I limited myself to the Amanda Quick books? I would hope she kept each "era" to itself, so that I wouldn't be missing out on something vital to the historical books by not reading the ones set in later timeframes. The more modern books might well reference something relating to the earlier days of the Society that I might otherwise not know, and I'd hate to get confused by that.

If anyone (Sarah?) has read more books in this series, could you help me out and let me know if I can stay with just the Amanda Quick portions without getting lost? Thank you!

I agree with you on Jayne's women. I think that is the reason I love her books so much.

I just made a cool discovery on your catalog... you have some of her earlier books published by Five Star that I haven't read. Shield's Lady and Sweet Starfire. I'm going to snag those next time I'm in the library.

I have read most of the books in this series and feel the same way about her books written by "Jayne Castle". I am not sure if I will read any more of the series that is set in the future. I'm not sure why I don't like them, I guess that it is probably the science fiction aspect to them. But just to let people know that "Amanda Quick" is coming out with book two of the "Looking Glass Trilogy" in April. The first one in this series is "In Too Deep" by Jayne Ann Krentz.

I quite enjoy the books written as Jayne Castle, but I am a sci-fi geek. Maybe it is just a setting thing for you, because I do not care much for regency era books. I did read Second Sight and enjoyed it, so there are exceptions.

A belated thank-you to those who answered my question about whether the Amanda Quick books could be singled out from the series. I haven't checked out Jayne Ann Krentz's website, but it's good to know that even the author gives the OK.

I do enjoy the occasional sci-fi book, as long as it's not so tech-heavy that you need a science degree to understand it, so I'm sure the Jayne Castle books wouldn't pose any difficulty there. However, even though I'm not really a Regency-era fan per se, one thing I particularly enjoyed about Second Sight was indeed the setting and, along with it, the very precise way the characters spoke. I know I'd be missing that in the contemporary and futuristic books, so I'll plan to go with The Third Circle someday.

Krentz has a sharp and concise writing style. Not overly flowery. It's like a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed the dialog between young Edward and Gabriel, with phrases like, "Papa was a big mist."

Rainbeaux- I'm glad that you commented on this post. It reminded me that I should add number 11 & 12 to the series list. I certainly hope that she continues. While I read her newest book "Copper Beach"(Check out my review from February 29.2012), I didn't enjoy it as much the Arcane Society books. ~Sarah

thank you so much for this, do you also have the book list in order for her harmony and rainshadow series? I have read all the arcane books and love them, and now started some of the other but would love the sequence!